STATE OF BUSINESS: Summer Breather

With the nation in a vacation mood
last week, business also seemed to be taking a breather. The Federal
Reserve Board reported that the industrial production index declined in
June by 1% to 109 of the 1957 average, due primarily to the cut in
steel production. This left the index two points lower than the high of
111 last January. But if production was off a bit, consumer buying in
June ($18.7 billion) was a record for the month.

The number of people employed was also a June record68,579,000the
Labor Department reported last week. But the greatest number of...